In many ways, I do not recommend you play this game. So, you might ask, why did I click yes on this review to recommend it?

Because, as much as part of me hates what this visual novel dredged up, I am better for it. Make no mistake, this is not a 'game.' It is a story that will hurt you, if you understand it. If you haven't gone through anything similar, you potentially may find it misses the mark, or perhaps it soars way above your head. That's OK.

For those it does apply to, those who have gone through even remotely similar experiences, I sincerely hope you play this. Not because I hope you have a good time - I can't recommend this as a fun experience. But I can recommend this as something that many unfortunately need to hear and experience. Myself included.

Visually, it's a stunning and often confusing game. The artistic take is unique, though some might find it hard to follow (I know I did at times, even if I knew more or less what I was seeing). The mechanics aren't all too complex or breakthrough, simply being more of a point and click style visual novel, though the concepts are interesting from a story perspective. The sound design is excellent, just as everything else is.

Overall, it may hit or miss for you. I hope, if you do choose to experience this, it hits. I am sorry if it hurts, because it likely will if it does hit for you. But that's OK. It's OK for it to hurt, and above all, it's OK to walk away. Often, that's simply the best choice, even if we don't want to accept it.

The best money I've ever spent on something that made me cry after dredging up my past.

I can only recommend you play this, if you want to deal with what it will bring up to you. If you want to experience it, then by all means, try it. If you don't want to suffer any pain, or be reminded of past flames that may still sting, then don't play this. Or maybe still do - it's a valuable experience all the same.

This is my first review, and I have no idea if it's any good. But, regardless, this story deserves it. Take care of yourselves.

Got in a humble bundle. This is not my normal type of game. I don’t like visual novels as I want there to be some actual game of skill in my games. I don’t like the color palette used. I didn’t like either of the characters. But despite this, something clicked and had to keep playing to get all the endings. Everybody who has been in a futile relationship at some point will be able to relate to this. It hasn’t changed my opinion on the genre, but I enjoyed spending a couple of evenings on it.

To be honest, even after completing Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star I still have no clue what I even played. But hey, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I like confusing and zany storylines at times... As long as they're well-executed. To be fair, as it tries to display the world of a person who suffers from borderline personality disorder, it's very likely intended to be confusing. Anyway, I looked forward to finding out more about the Milky Way Prince – And what's the deal with "vampires", by the way? – as I'm, admittedly, not very familiar with the star system. Regardless, I'm always excited when I get the chance to expand my horizon. After all, there is always something new to learn for everyone, right?


Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star revolves around Nuki who is obsessed with the star system. You see, he even possesses a fairytale-like book that is about the Milky Way Prince. Anyway, it's summer and Nuki happens to meet Sune. Despite just getting to know each other, Nuki starts to get attached to him right away which is greatly noticeable given they even hook up on the very same night in a public bathroom. Everything seems to be perfect and Nuki just knows that he is the right one. However, at this point he doesn't have a clue how their relationship will develop in the future.


Evidently, the relationship of Nuki and Sune is going to be the main theme of this game. However, that doesn't mean that the story has to be romantic per se. In fact, I never felt fuzzy during playing like I usually do with romance games but instead I constantly was on guard. I just had a hunch that something will happen later on in the game as everything just seemed way too perfect. I mean, both of them just met each other and honestly, something felt off the whole time. Anyway, the atmosphere stays gloomy throughout the whole game and it's immediately noticeable to the reader that both characters seem to be not very sane.

Sadly, this means that there is no real romantic development between both characters as well. They fell in love at first sight and thus, the relationship starts right away at the beginning of the game. Each time they're meeting up, there is no progress either but both of them are just communicating with each other. The problem here is that Sune is mysterious and doesn't like to talk about himself a lot, so I didn't have the impression that Nuki actually got to know him but instead just overly admired him, shoving his ideals on him. It becomes obvious that this aspect might become a problem later on during their relationship.


Well, there is no storyline going on in Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star either but the reader just goes through a few scenes where Nuki is meeting Sune. There are hints here and there available about the background story of both characters but it's presented very shallow without any depth. All in all, I still have the feeling that, besides both characters having mental issues, I don't know a lot about them. Character development is one of the most important aspects in a visual novel for me which saddens me even more that it's not in the foreground here at all. I wished the reader would find out more about the cast and their story as I found the setting interesting.


As aforementioned, the main purpose of Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star is to display the world of a person with borderline disorder personality. The game mainly focuses on this aspect and thus, the game starts harmless at first but gets very strange later on. Although I found it interesting that this visual novel thematizes such a serious topic, I feel like the execution is lacking. It's honestly hard for me to relate to a person who has this disorder, as I don't have it myself, yet this game doesn't explain anything to their readers but just throws them into a relationship where both partners are acting weird. I would go so far to say that if I didn't read beforehand what the game is about I would guess that they're both just crazy.

Dont get me wrong, I think it does a good job at showing that people with that specific disorder are unpredictable and have to fight their own demons. The issue I have here is that everything is so confusing. Of course, this game isn't meant to be informative but to a certain extent, I would have preferred to receive more explanation.


Something I appreciated about Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star is that the game itself feels so lively. The player doesn't only read through a bunch of text but occasionally there are a few scenes where they can more or less decide what to inspect. This part of the game works out similary to a point and click and thus, I could even decide whether Nuki should shave himself, wear parfume or brush his teeth, although it doesn't change anything on his appearance. These actions are, however, very limited and only available in his room. Occasionally, minor objects are changing throughout the game so it's always worth it to check out everything. There is even a poster that shows the branches and the current chapter the player reached.

However, a downside with the gameplay is, once again, the explanation. During a juicy scene with Sune, the player can select between different symbols. What they do and what impact they have doesn't get explained at all so I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I ended up clicking on random symbols and it seems like they are changing the dialogue during the scene while a choice occasionally pops up.

That being said, there are choices available during the interaction with Sune which will have an impact on the end. In total, there are two branches and three different ends available the player can reach.

After completing the game once, there is a special feature that lets the player put the story on double speed. However, I still prefer the regular skip function in a visual novel as I still had to manually advance the text and it still took some time to get past the already-read sections. This might be tedious for those who are hunting for the other endings, as this game saves automatically and, therefore, it's not possible to load different save files.


Graphic-wise, Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star is charming. I like the zany style that utterly stands out of the crowd of anime visual novels. At times, the game even works with animations which made it feel lively. Overall, the presentation of this game is something I would like to see more often when it comes to visual novels. The – sometimes – crazy happenings just fit well with the weird, but charming art style. Thanks to the rather dark graphics of Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star, the gloomy vibe gets even more highlighted. As a piece of side information, this visual novel, unfortunately, doesn't contain voice-over which would have greatly improved the immersion.


Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star is one of the games that's tough to recommend. If you're looking for a visual novel that tries to thematize serious issues in a relationship, go ahead and give this game a try. However, as a visual novel lover myself, I'm positive that most people, who are into that genre, are expecting a lot of character development, or a well-executed story, which Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star, unfortunately, doesn't fulfill. It saddens me to say this but this game had a lot of potential but, ultimately, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

This game brings up a lot of feeling from someone who has the disorder in which they are trying to portray. My issue is that people may not realize that both of the main characters have the disorder. It was beautiful in some senses, but in others, very hurtful. I am not a vampire, nor a demon. I do not suck the life from other people and go from the next person to the next taking their happiness and collect urns of my failed relationship. I don't have 3 or 5 arms and I don't turn into a demon when I have a breakdown... anyone with this disorder doesn't. And from my standpoint I would like to have something more positive about us rather than us being seen as 'vampires', hence the 'vampire star'. The only positive was that (SPOILER: one of the endings Sune realizes the only one who could make him happy is him) but to outsiders I feel that they might not understand that since if you don't know, then there are technically no positive endings if you expect the basic love romance happy relationship. This could have been so much better thought out and had a better story to clearly portray BPD. Both negatives and positives but the game seems strict on showing only negatives... I really really really want to like this game. But with the harm it's doing to the negative image people with BPD already have... I don't think this is the best way...

I started the game with mixed expectation (a friend recommended me to play it), only to find myself overwhelmed by its intimate story and hypnotic mood. Somehow within it I found so much about myself and my previous relationships, that I started to feel naked, ashamed and redeemed from it. I will give it a second run once I manage to shake off the emotion from the first run.
10/10 for the music!

A beautifully made visual game, put together so very well. It is very deep and phenomenal piece, one that I relate too on many levels of the topics around it. This game brings a sense of closure for me as its narrative about relationships while it shows a resolution to it at the end. The music, illustrations and 3-D artistry shows more than a game, but a painting of a meaningful experience from the heart of its creator. A must play for 2020.

Although the protagonists are male, it is not the focal point of the game. But rather their toxic and dysfunctional relationship, a situation that nowadays happens more and more often and from which it is hard to get out. I'm enjoying everything about this visual novel, good graphics, mind tripping sound and an engaging story. My vote 9/10 even if I consider the price too high due to the duration of the game. about 3 hours.

twinks in your area

Most important: The game has flashing lights that are not mentioned on the store page, and provides no method to disable/turn of flashing. You don't find out about the flashing lights until you have already bought and launched the game. Big no-no.

That aside, the game is completely devoid of narrative, or any noteworthy change in relationship between characters. The characterization is all flat--the two characters do little to develop their relationship, and the interest between characters comes, seemingly, from nowhere.

The hybridization of point-and-click and VN methods seem interesting, until you realize that the clicking is largely not beneficial to the narrative beyond obfuscating how little you are actually impacting the story. The impact your decisions have on the story is negligible, by the way--it seems that there is really only one event that determines if you are placed on a 'good' path or 'bad' path, and both paths largely feel the same from a storytelling as well as game experience perspective. The 'neutral' ending is little more than an early end to the game.

There is no skip/autotext functionality, and the cutscenes are painfully long. Finishing the game once unlocks a 2x speed function, but even with this turned on, the scenes are still a slog to get through.

The symbols that the game uses to skip textual storytelling are extremely unclear, and don't actually offer anything in terms of visual storytelling.

This game would have worked better in a VN engine, but if it were you would quickly realize just how low quality the storytelling was, just how little your actions change the story, and just how irritating many of the game's novelties really are.

That this game costs $15 is laughable, as it has the storytelling qualities of a free VN, the gameplay mechanics of an rpgmaker game, and the replay value of candyland.

I normally don't leave reviews on Steam, since I'm already writing them for a separate site. But for Milky Way Prince I just had to make an exception. I admit I went into this game with some reservations. As somebody who suffers from Borderline myself, after a childhood of abuse and trauma, finding out what this game was about filled me with trepidation. Most mental illnesses are already stigmatized to hell and back in fiction, and i'm sick of narratives that paint mentally ill people as dangerous, manipulative and purposely hurtful.

That is not what this game is.

This game is an honest telling of the burden of Borderline. I related a lot to Sune, who harms himself and those around him almost naturally, like it's something he can't help but still does. The struggle to connect and the constant shifting moods and fluctuating self-image was something I recognize a lot in myself. But I also recognized myself in Nuki, as somebody who spent their entire childhood at the mercy of a father who was suffering from untreated BPD. In the end, this game tells a realistic, raw, disturbing but honest story about BPD and how it affects both those who have it and those who come in contact with people who have it. The beautiful art and amazing music was really just the cherry on the cake of a game I could not recommend highly enough. The subject matter is heavy and I imagine not everybody will be interested in such a game, but it's one that desperately needed to be made and I can't thank the creator enough for putting himself out there like this.